GB2086298A

GB2086298A - Safety razors

Info

Publication number: GB2086298A
Application number: GB8129499A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Gillette Co LLC
Current assignee: Gillette Co LLC
Priority date: 1980-10-06
Filing date: 1981-09-30
Publication date: 1982-05-12
Also published as: DE3139693C2; US4403413A; AR230808A1; DE3139693A1; YU241181A; GB2086298B; CA1177236A

Description

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SPECIFICATION Safety razors

The invention relates to wet shaving systems and is directed more particularly to constructional 5 features of a shaving implement including a housing and a twin blade assembly mounted in the housing.

It is generally known in the art to provide a razor head housing having platform and cap 10 portions adapted to receive a blade means therebetween. In U.S. Patent No. 1,195,259, issued August 22, 1916 to W. E. O'Reilly, there is shown a platform and cap portion formed from a single piece of metal, the cap overlying the 15 platform.

It is also generally known to embed a blade in a plastic shaving head, the head being permanently attached to a handle, or alternatively, removable from a handle for replacement by another shaving 20 head. U.S. Patent No. 1,864,995, issued June 28, 1932 to T. H. Frost shows such an arrangement.

More recent examples of plastic shaving heads having blades fixed therein include U.S. Patent No. 3,703,764, issued November 28, 1972 to 25 Roger L. Perry, U.S. Patent No. 3,724,070 issued April 3, 1973 to Francis W. Dorion, and U.S.

Patent No. 4,026,016 issued May 31,1977 to Warren I. Nissen. While such recent examples have been eminently successful, there is, as 30 always, a need for such products which are less expensive to manufacture and offer improved functional characteristics.

A combination of the simplicity of the O'Reilly device and the more recent blade-in-plastic 35 shaving implements would afford significant cost savings, and at the same time permit manufacture of a more manoeuvrable, more easily handled shaving implement.

Recognizing that it is only the cutting edge of a 40 razor blade that does a razor's work, there have been attempts to use narrower blades. In most cartridge-type shaving units blades are retained in plastic cartridges by the passing of plastic posts, or pins, through holes in the blades and heading 45 over the posts. While such method has successfully accomplished its goal, the use of "rivets" of this sort requires a blade of a width of about 1/10 inch, limiting to a great extent the degree of narrowness possible. Efforts have been 50 made, as described in U.S. Patent No. 4,084,316, issued April 18, 1978, to John F. Francis, to utilize very narrow blades by way of welding the blades to a support, such as a rigid wire. Welding presents problems by virtue of the heat required 55 and the effect of such heat on the blade metal.

Accordingly, there exists a need for a shaving implement construction which will permit use of narrow blades, e.g. narrower than 1/10 inch, but not such as to subject the blades to harmful 60 temperatures, or other deleterious conditions, during fabrication.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a shaving implement including blade means disposed between cap and platform

65 portions which operate to retain the blade means without need of rivet portions, or welding.

In accordance with the invention there is provided a shaving implement comprising a housing including an elongate platform portion, a 70 back portion upstanding from the rear longitudinal margin of the platform, portion, and a cap portion extending from said back portion and overlying said platform portion, and blade means permanently disposed between the said cap and 75 platform portions, the said cap portion exerting a downward clamping pressure on the blade means, the said blade means comprising a first blade member, a spacer member, and a second blade member, the said spacer member being disposed 80 between the first and second blade members, the blade and spacer members being held in abutting engagement by the said clamping pressure, but otherwise being unsecured to each other, the spacer having a lug extending from its underside 85 proximate either end thereof, and the housing having a pair of leaf spring members sufficiently flexible to permit the said lugs to ride thereover during insertion of the blade means between said platform and cap portions, and having snap-90 locking engagement with said lugs to lock said spacer permanently in position between the platform and cap portions.

The above and other features of the invention, including various novel details of construction and 95 combination of parts, will now be more particularly described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a housing suitable 100 for use in a shaving implement in accordance with the invention;

Figures 2 and 3 are sectional views taken along lines II—II and III—III, respectively;

Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of 105 blade means suitable for use in the shaving implement; and

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along line V—V of Figure 1, but showing the blade means and housing combined in the shaving implement. 110 Referring to the drawings, and particularly Figures 1 —3, it will be seen that the housing 2 includes an elongate platform portion 4. A back portion 6 upstands from the rear longitudinal margin of the platform portion 4, and a cap portion 115 8 extends forwardly from the back portion 6 to overlie the platform portion. The housing further includes leg portions 10 extending forwardly from the platform portion and joining a guard portion 12 which is disposed parallel to the back portion 120 6. The housing is further provided with end walls 14, 16 interconnecting the back and guard portions at the ends of the housing.

The cap portion 8 is an unstressed, "as moulded" state (Figure 2) inclines downwardly 125 towards the platform portion 4 to a first position. The cap portion is sufficiently flexible to receive a blade means therebeneath, the blade means stressing the cap portion to a second position (Figure 5) further removed from the platform

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portion than the first position. The cap portion thereby exercises a downward clamping pressure on the blade means.

The cap portion 8 comprises a series of spaced, 5 aligned, forwardly extending fingers 18. The platform portion is provided with a series of spaced, aligned recesses 20, the recesses being separated by platform rib portions 22. As may be seen in Figure 1, each of the fingers 18 is disposed 10 over one of the recesses 20 and each of the rib portions 22 is in alignment with a space between two of the fingers 18.

Preferably, and as shown, the entire housing, and at least the platform, back, and cap portions, 15 is of moulded plastic and is moulded as an integral unit. The fingers 18 are in effect leaf springs adapted to flex to receive a blade means between the fingers and the platform and further serve to urge the blade means against an upper surface 24 20 of the platform portion.

The guard portion 12 is provided with rearwardly-extending leaf spring members 26 moulded integrally with the guard portion 12. The free ends of the leaf spring members 26 are each 25 provided with an inclined cam surface 28, an upper surface 30, and a rearward surface 32, the latter being generally normal to the upper surface 30 (Figure 3).

Each of the fingers 18 includes a guide surface 30 34 (Figure 2), serving to guide a blade means into the gap, or pocket, formed by the platform and back portion and the fingers. As noted above, the fingers 18 are so formed that while extending forwardly, the fingers also extend slightly 35 downwardly, as viewed in Figure 2, or toward the platform surface 24.

Referring to Figure 4, it will be seen that a blade means suitable for use with the above-described housing includes a first blade 40 having a cutting 40 edge 42 and a narrower second blade 44 having a cutting edge 46, the blades 40,44 being disposed on either side, respectively, of a spacer member 50. The spacer member 50 includes an elongate central portion 52 and end portions 54 extending 45 forwardly of a frontal edge 56 of the central portion 52. The spacer member 50 is further provided with lugs 58 extending from the underside thereof, the lugs 58 being aligned with and engageable with the aforementioned leaf 50 spring members 26. Each of the lugs 58 is provided with an inclined cam surface 60, a bottom surface 62, and a trailing surface 64, the latter being generally normal to the bottom surface 62.

55 The spacer member 50 is further provided with upper and lower detents, 66, 68 extending, respectively, from the upper and under surfaces of the spacer member. The upper detents 66 are received by holes 70 in the second blade member 60 44 and the lower detents 68 are similarly received by apertures 72 in the first blade member 40.

Each detent 66, 68 is provided with a rearwardly-facing surface 74 substantially normal to the plane of the spacer member 50, the surface 74 being 65 engageable with the rearward wall of its respective hole 70 or aperture 72.

In assembly, the blade means including the first blade 40, spacer 50, and second blade 44, is inserted as a loose assemblage between the fingers 18 and the upper surfaces 24 of the rib portions 22, the finger guide surfaces 34 guiding and urging the blade means into place. As the assembly of first and second blades 40,44 is moved into place, the surfaces 74 of the detents 66, 68 engage the rearward walls of the holes 70 and apertures 72 in which they are disposed, causing the assembly to move into place in proper alignment, the spacer acting as a carrier for the blade members. As the blade assembly moves into place, the lugs 58 engage the leaf spring members 26, the cam surfaces 60 engaging the cam surfaces 28, to deflect the leaf spring members downwardly. Continued pressure on the blade means causes the lugs 58 to override the leaf spring member 26, with the surfaces 30, 62 sliding along each other until the leaf spring member snaps upwardly to lock the lugs 58, and thereby the blade means, in place, the spring surface 32 coming to rest adjacent the lug surface 64, as seen in Figure 5.

The blade and spacer portions of the blade means are retained in position relative to each other by the pressure thereon exercised by the cap portion 8 and the above-described spring and detent means, and are otherwise not secured to each other. There being no rivet connecting means, it will be apparent that the width of the blade is not a critical factor and a very narrow blade, less than 1/10 inch from the cutting edge to rearward edge, may be used.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the housing may be provided with means (not shown) for attachment to a razor handle. Such means may comprise the well known groove means disclosed in the aforementioned U.S.

Patent No. 3,724,070, or journal bearing means as disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Patent No. 4,026,016. Alternatively, a handle may be of the type permanently connected to the housing 2, rather than of the type selectively connected and disconnected to and from the housing.

Claims

1. A shaving implement comprising a housing including an elongate platform portion, a back portion upstanding from the rear longitudinal margin of the platform portion, and a cap portion extending from said back portion and overlying said platform portion, and blade means permanently disposed between the said cap and platform portions, the said cap portion exerting a downward clamping pressure on the blade means, the said blade means comprising a first blade member, a spacer member, and a second blade member, the said spacer member being disposed between the first and second blade members, the blade and spacer members being held in abutting engagement by the said clamping pressure, but otherwise being unsecured to each other, the

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spacer having a lug extending from its underside proximate either end thereof, and the housing having a pair of leaf spring members sufficiently flexible to permit the said lugs to ride thereover 5 during insertion of the blade means between said platform and cap portions, and having snap-locking engagement with said lugs to lock said spacer permanently in position between the platform and cap portions.

10 2. A shaving implement in accordance with claim 1 in which the spacer is provided with upper and lower detents extending respectively from its upper and under surfaces, the said first blade member is provided with apertures therein which 15 receive said lower detents, and the second blade member is provided with holes therein which receive said upper detents.

3. An implement in accordance with claim 1 or 2, in which the housing includes a guard portion

20 positioned forwardly of the platform portion, and the leaf spring members extend from said guard portion rearwardly toward the said back portion.

4. An implement according to claim 3, wherein the housing is formed as a unitary plastics

25 moulding incorporating the said platform, back, cap and guard portions and the leaf spring members.

5. A shaving implement substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying

30 drawings.

Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office by the Courier Press, Leamington Spa, 1982. Published by the Patent Office, 25 Southampton Buildings, London, WC2A 1 AY, from which copies may be obtained.